There are plenty of metrics you can use to measure the success of your business. You can use cutting-edge data applications to look at sales, customer acquisition cost, social media engagement, social media followers, and net worth. While all of these factors will help you gauge the state of your business, customer satisfaction is the ultimate business metric.
Customer satisfaction has a significant potential for influencing an increase in sales over the long term. You can get a bunch of one-off sales through clever advertising, but truly satisfied customers are assets. When customers are truly happy, they’ll tell their friends and family. They’ll also give you positive online reviews, which will help your company develop a strong reputation.
When you generate satisfied customers regularly, you won’t have to work as hard to get sales. Satisfied customers often become brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors are one of the most powerful tools to raise awareness about your business, which makes customer satisfaction the ultimate business metric.
What Creates a Satisfied, Loyal Customer?
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Customers can be satisfied for a variety of reasons, but generally speaking, a satisfied customer is someone who is happy with their purchase and the way they’ve been treated by the company. People who are impressed with the way a company handles customer service after an issue often become brand ambassadors.
First, you need to produce the kind of loyalty that turns satisfied customers into brand ambassadors. For example, say a customer receives a defective product, and you send them a working replacement free of charge plus an additional free product for a friend. Based on an unexpectedly positive customer service experience, they’ll be more likely to become a brand ambassador for your company.
Is your Company Likely to Generate Brand Ambassadors?
To optimally measure customer satisfaction, you need to know how likely your customers are to become brand ambassadors. That’s easy to discern with a Net Promoter Score. A Net Promoter Score (NPS) will tell you approximately what percentage of your customers are likely to recommend you to a friend.
Your NPS score is calculated based on answers customers give to a quick one-question survey. Customers are asked how likely they are to recommend your product to a friend on a scale of 1-10. Then, they’re given the option of providing freeform feedback in a text box to expand on why they chose their specific rating.
Knowing the percentage of your customers who would recommend you to a friend is a critical customer satisfaction metric. When a bunch of your customers are likely to recommend you to others, you’re on your way to generating strong brand ambassadors.
Why you Should Care About Brand Ambassadors
You can get anyone to say anything about your products and services, so why focus on brand ambassadors? Brand ambassadors are crucial for one reason: consumers tend to trust the authenticity of brand ambassadors over paid endorsers.
Brand ambassadors are customers who love your products or services enough to say amazing things about your company on a regular basis without getting paid to endorse you. They’re not just people who leave rave reviews on Amazon. They’re dedicated and passionate about your company and will take time to share their positive experiences every chance they get.
With brand ambassadors boosting your reputation, you’ll generate more customers even when your competition charges less. Statistics show that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a product or service accompanied by great customer service.
Customer Satisfaction is Contagious
When recommending your product, truly satisfied customers will pass on their level of satisfaction to others. Satisfaction is contagious. Imagine someone tells you about a new wireless computer mouse that solved all of their problems. They can use it on their desk that has a slight texture, which is something they couldn’t do with their previous mouse. You’re sold, you buy the mouse, and you love it even though you don’t have a textured desk and any mouse would work.
Your friend’s positive experience has shaped your view of the product in a more positive way. Now, when you recommend that same mouse to others, you’ll probably tell people it works great on slightly textured surfaces.
Keep Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Don’t drop the ball on measuring customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers and brand ambassadors are the key to improving your business. They’ll tell you what’s working, what’s not working, and they’ll get the word out about your company.
Satisfied customers are your most valuable asset; therefore, customer satisfaction is the ultimate business metric.